CSEG Distinguished Lecture: Bernd Milkereit

This seminar may be of interest to mathematicians and is included in this listing on behalf of the Earth & Ocean Sciences Department.

Seismic imaging is an important geophysical tool for delineating and monitoring the earth’s subsurface structure and its oil, gas and mineral resources. Owing to the earth’s heterogeneity, such subsurface structures exist at different scales (sizes) with lateral and vertical variations in physical properties such as contrasts in bulk and shear moduli, and densities. Over the past decade, seismology entered a new era. Solving elastic and visco-elastic wave equations on large supercomputers, accurate and complete simulations for heterogeneous 3D earth models became a reality – replacing exact solutions for layered earth models. Seismic methods illuminate subsurface structures using compressional and shear waves. Recorded signal at surface and borehole seismic sensor locations arise from reflection, refraction, transmission, scattering and attenuation of elastic waves at lithological contacts, structural boundaries and the Earth's free surface, where abrupt and

Bernd Milkereit is the Teck Chair of Exploration Geophysics at the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Toronto (since 2001). For more than 30 years, Bernd has worked at the intersection between mineral resources and exploration seismology. He carried out research projects on coal and groundwater before moving into hardrock seismic imaging and exploration for deep mineral deposits in the crystalline crust. He maintains a strong interest in international scientific drilling projects. Previous to his current position Bernd was a research scientist the Geological Survey of Canada (1985-1996) and professor of geophysics at Kiel University, Germany (1996-2001).